School Bus Conversion Website

Conversion Log: 2004 Galleries

December 24 : First steps are to remove the seats and wheelchair securing points. These are secured with bolts which extend through the floor of the bus, with a nut on the underside of the bus. Our first method was to have one person inside the bus with a socket, ratchet drive & breaker bar, and one brave soul (me) underneath, holding the wrench in place in a shower of road crud and rust. This went on for a few hours, but, honestly -- it was a real pain in the neck (and elsewhere). So, out comes the angle grinder with cutting wheel, and work goes much more smoothly (and I can get out from under the bus!) Day One was slow going -- by sundown we were tired & sore. But we were jazzed to be taking these first steps!

December 24

First steps are to remove the seats and wheelchair securing points. These are secured with bolts which extend through the floor of the bus, with a nut on the underside of the bus. Our first method was to have one person inside the bus with a socket, ratchet drive & breaker bar, and one brave soul (me) underneath, holding the wrench in pla ...

Updated: Nov 12, 2005 10:08pm PST

December 27 : More progress on the seats and wheelchair securing points. All of the seats are detached. I decided to strip them down to their steel frames and have them recycled. The rear heater is also removed at this point (left side of the photo) and I am working on removing the front heater. What a mess! The heaters are tied into the engine's cooling system. There is a loop of 1" (ID) radiator hose feeding the two heaters, so I drained this, cut the hose near the driver's seat, and closed the loop using 2 90-degree elbows. This was somewhat a PITA, due to the fact that no matter how well I drained the system, there seemed to be a little coolant spillage when I least expected it.

December 27

More progress on the seats and wheelchair securing points. All of the seats are detached. I decided to strip them down to their steel frames and have them recycled. The rear heater is also removed at this point (left side of the photo) and I am working on removing the front heater. What a mess! The heaters are tied into the engine's ...

Updated: Nov 12, 2005 10:13pm PST

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